The Secret History - Blog Posts

First book of 2025 complete: The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Rating: What The Fuck/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

one of my favourite reads in a while

my new years resolution is that i'm back on my robert sean leonard shit (starting reading the secret history and it put me in my dark academia feels)

— the secret history, donna tartt.

The Secret History

“Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it.”

“I prefer to think of it, he had said, as redistribution of matter.”

“It is is better to know one book intimately than a hundred superficially.”

“In short: I felt my existence was tainted, in some subtle but essential way.”

“Anything is grand if it's done on a large enough scale.”

“Forgive me, for all the things I did but mostly the ones i did not.”

“There is nothing wrong with the love of Beauty. But Beauty - unless she is wed to something more meaningful - is always superficial.”

Totally didn't make this like a year ago but posting it just now what definitely nott

You know how Julian says the divine comedy is incomprehensible to someone who isn’t a christian; the secret history doesn’t make sense if you don’t read it as Richard Papen. To truly appreciate the book you must be Richard as long as you read it.

She was born to play Judy Poovey if you even care

Ok but like what if instead of working every day to earn a degree to get a job I don’t want, I escape to a ramshackle cottage in the woods and bake bread and idk form a coven or something

Me to my boyfriend: it actually was cubitum eamus

it's always "hey" never "cubitum eamus"

Man, Dark Academia as a literary subgenre is something that I have struggled with.

On paper, it ticks all the boxes. A heavy focus on academic life, learning for the sake of learning, a love of history, linguistics and myth, the cutthroat nature of elitism, the hollow feeling of disillusionment. Just everything that should make me absolutely love it. Seriously, compiling all of those things together into a book should make that my favorite book.

AND YET.....every dark academia book I've read as been absolute garbage. Books so bad they made me forget why I love reading.

Donna Tartt, Alex Michaelides....it's on sight with these fuckers. I get genuinely angry thinking about these books. I was not even able to write actual reviews of them because I got so fucking angry whenever I tried.

Other DA books I've read have been mostly just meh. So forgettable that I couldn't even give a synopsis of them.

It's a subgenre that I want to love, but all of my attempts have failed so miserably.

I'm currently reading The Cloisters and Babel right now and if these are bad too, I'm just giving up.

I've heard a lot of praise for Babel so I'm hoping it's going to be a light in the darkness for me. But I also heard people praise The Secret History to the moon and back and that book's so horrible in every way that I literally want to burn it.

Please let there actually be good Dark Academia books out there. I can't take anymore disappointment

I am finally done with The Secret History. I never have to read a single word of that awful book ever again. It is one of the worst things I've ever read and I hate that it exists. But now I'm done with it. It's over. I'm finally free.

And now, I just want to ask one little question.

How on earth are so many people hyping up a book this racist, this misogynistic, this homophobic, this incredibly overwritten?

I just don't understand how so many people can say that it's good when it's one of the most bigoted things I've ever seen.

Someone please explain to me why I'm putting so much effort into a book I hate

Secret History drinking game: Take a shot every time Tartt makes a ghost analogy

Literally learning how to speed read just so I can get through The Secret History faster. I just want to be done with this terrible book

Oh, look, it’s Henry Winter.

Donna Tartt really just left her only female character (okay there's Judy but Judy's just background noise) underdeveloped and gave the gay character the most miserable ending and we're all okay with it? How come?

Am I the only one that kinda hoped that Richard would realise he was in love with Francis and they would come together at the end? I know that was very unlikely, but his 'love' for Camilla always seemed so superficial, and i liked Francis a whole lot better than her, tbh. Anyway, poor Francis

Oh, Francis, my precious baby, you deserved better

Francis Abernathy really had to hit on every single guy in his clique only to hook up with Charles high on weed during his friends funeral whom he had killed.

Really Francis there are plenty of good guys you could fuck

Watching How To Get Away With Murder and reading The Secret History at the same time is such a surreal experience. I've already started to get the characters from the book confused with the characters from the show

Richard Papen is so stupid

His shady friends were like “Hey let’s go for a ride in the night” after they had confided in him that they’d MURDERED someone and didn’t plan on going to jail for it and he was one of the two people that knew about it and Richard was like “yeah sure why not what can POSSIBLY go wrong”

Richard Papen in The Secret History be like: is Henry gay? Is Julian gay? Is Francis gay? Am I gay?

I am gonna take a break from TSH. Although it was because of that I started this blog. I have been very burned out with that book. I cleaned out my drafts. For the past three years of hyper-fixation made me learn about so many things. I have changed my opinions so much since I made my first post and it made me realise how you not only mature in age but also in your ideas about certain topics and characters.

It won't probably be my final post about TSH, I want to return to it a few years later to see it in a retrospective lens opposed to the rose-tinted one I wore when I completed the book for the first time.

My current thoughts on the characters;

Henry: loved him at first and I love him still. But for different reasons. I loved him when I first read the book because I was too in love with his character to realise the type of person he was. Even agreeing on his terrible decisions (ex: killing Bunny, bacchanal, etc...) but now I love him because he is so unhinged and terrible like the many morally grey/evil characters we all love.

Richard: for some reason I thought he was a good person who got wrapped in all this shit and wasn't bad. Now I think Richard is equally responsible for the tragedy by not reporting a murder and by being an actual accomplice to murder.

Camilla: my thoughts on her have changed the least. At first I used to think she was just the nicest of them. And then it changed to--- she is hiding a secret dark side or more layers we don't get to see.

Francis: I thought he was also the nicest, next to Camilla because he doesn't take any problematic actions. But it is his inability to take actions of his own that makes him bad. Although I still think he is underrated and often misunderstood

Charles: I couldn't stand Charles at first. And I can't just justify everything he did cuz he is terrible. It's just he is often used as a scapegoat to make Henry look better which I hate. He's a menace yes, but so is Henry!!!!!

Julian: I don't have a lot to say cuz we rarely see him. All I can say is he is not the mastermind of the whole story. He's a John Keating gone wrong example.

Bunny: my thoughts on Bunny have changed the most. From HATING him to feeling sympathy and even bad for him. I still won't agree he is somehow the best person out there, cuz he is definitely not. Bunny is hated to an extent that he doesn't deserve. And ounce and for all, he didn't deserve to die (I take back what I said about him in the past)

Judy: ounce a queen 👑 always a queen 👑

So this is it. Thanks TSH for being the bane and reason for my existence since the pandemic.

~ 🕊️

Funny enough the only two people I would be friends with (or interact with) in TSH if I was in the book are-----Bunny and Richard.

I am sorry as much as the others are more interesting. They are also TERRIFYING.

Bunny is an asshole, but I have met and been friends with so many assholes and even Judy likes him, he's the least problematic in the grand scheme of things.

And Richard is basic in a way he will never admit he is, he has his bad moments but he's still not that out of touch.

Do I adore Camilla? Yes. Would I talk to her? Nope, she would scare me. I won't be anywhere near Henry. I'll observe Francis from afar and I'll have a small talk ounce with Charles just cuz he looks like a friendly person. And that's it.

TSH but after Bunny's death, the rest of the gang start receiving mysterious messages about their secrets.

Like the twins are sleeping together, they killed the farmer, Richard isn't rich, Francis and Charles have a thing, they tried to escape jail by going to South America, Richard knew about the farmer but kept quiet, Henry and Camilla are secretly involved, Henry tried to kill Bunny with poison mushrooms, Henry and Julian's little kiss, Julian knew about the bacchanal etc.

At first they got these messages, they kept it to themselves. Finding letters and notes in their bags, pockets and books. They kept it to themselves until they went to Bunny's funeral.

And there one of Bunny's nephews runs to them and gives Henry a note addressed to them in a familiar handwriting.

"Did you think you got me buried under the snow? That you got rid of me? I am not gone bitches, I am still here, and I know everything.

- Kisses, B"

Henry Winter will ALSO tell you to look at wild ferns, and then push you off a cliff while you are looking for said ferns 🌿

Henry Winter will ask you for calculations about poison mushrooms and then try to frame you for killing HIS best friend

Richard missed a bullet, literally, when Henry killed himself. Or he was gonna get framed and into the prison because of Henry.

That's why he always made Richard do his errands at first, he was trying to collect fake evidence.

I want to see a TSH pov but from

✨ Julian's Version ✨

Julian knew about the bacchanal yes but he clearly had no idea that the farmer and Bunny were killed by the others, that's why he left immediately cuz he couldn't deal with the truth and the responsibility. Throughout the book he is confused about where all his students are and what they are doing, why they are acting like that. I just want to see him spiral as he figures things out. To see what they have become. Because of him.

(also I am just interested in Julian, like what was his deal? What was he doing all day? The book didn't have enough Julian. I wanted to know him better)

The way Richard thought all the guys---Henry, Bunny, Charles and Francis (who actually was) were gay in one way or another. Except for Camilla, she can't be sapphic, cuz that'll ruin his fantasy of her..... No wonder he was disappointed about the bacchanal, he missed the orgy he dreamed of 😂😂😂😂

Julian: where's Bunny?

Richard: doing stuff

Julian: where's Henry?

Richard: trying to stop Bunny from doing stuff

Julian: where is Charles?

Richard: trying to stop Henry from stopping Bunny from doing stuff

Julian: Camilla?

Richard: trying to stop Charles from stopping Henry from stopping Bunny from doing stuff

Julian, sighs: let me guess Francis is stopping Camilla?

Richard: no, he got tired of all this, drank a lot of vodka and took a nap

Julian: then why pray are you here?

Richard: I am trying to stop you from stopping Camilla from stopping Charles, from stopping Henry from stopping Bunny from doing stuff.

Julian: I can't believe I pay the college for shit like this....

The reason Bunny gets a shit load of hate despite him being the only one who is NOT an accomplice to murder is because of one simple thing:

His personality.

That is the reason we can't feel bad for him. We as a society have considered Homophobia and sexism one of the worst things you can ever do. Which is true.

Murder is justified in certain situations, especially when it's in a fictional universe/story, not saying Bunny's death was justified, but we can excuse murder----even the law excuses murder at times. It's something grey and understandable in certain situations. We have liked; even loved characters who have killed others simply because it is in a fictional story.

The reason we draw the line at Bunny's behaviour is because, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism/Misogyny as well other forms of discrimination are NEVER excusable. When someone says a slur, you can't excuse that by comparing them in terms of morality with other characters. In modern society, we don't accept slurs and derogatory remarks.

Maybe in the 90's and 2000's when the book was new and fresh, people might not have cared about Bunny's behaviour much, maybe they even sympathize with him and loved him, because it was a DIFFERENT TIME back then. We cannot tolerate things like that anymore and it makes people harder to sympathize with Bunny.

Other than all that, Bunny is annoying a lot of the time. He is not the loveable goof he thinks he is. He scams his friends. He is cocky and arrogant. He is dumb and condescending. He says the worst things at wrong times. He puts people down. He pokes fun at others weaknesses. And the more you see of him the worse he gets. Even to the point you wish he dies.......

And he does. It's in his death that Bunny is more humanized, as most people are, in death.

And it is SOOO frustrating because he is the sanest person in the entire class. The most normal and least indoctrinated in those beliefs.

Bunny Corcoran is a character I wanted to like. But he kept getting on my nerves and I found others more interesting than him. And after reading the book several times I can appreciate him more. Although I don't agree with so many theories about him being a "good" person.

Bunny doesn't need to be good. He doesn't need anyone defending him. He doesn't need excuses for his personality. He is annoying, sometimes endearing; he makes your blood boil and he's still gone too soon. His death is a tragedy. He wanted to live. Forever.

Bunny is Bunny

You love, you hate him, or you don't care about him

His existence is necessary for the story and it's time we don't fight about if he was an angel or the devil

He was a person. A deeply flawed, complex person. And we should appreciate him just for that.

~🕯️🕊️🐇